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Rank: AML Member
Joined: 10/26/2007
Posts: 52
Points: 159
Location: South Jordan, UT
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How has AML been good for you? Why did you become a member? (Don't worry--we're working on a way for you to leave more negative feedback [in the form of kindly-worded constructive suggestions, I'm sure  ] elsewhere on the site. This one is for positive things.)
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Rank: AML Member
Joined: 10/26/2007
Posts: 21
Points: -34
Location: Orem, Utah
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... it's almost like a kind of mini Zion, or a ... genre Zion if you will. It's a group of people who are all (almost all) of one heart and one mind ... on at least one topic; Mormon Letters. I like hanging with this group because it keeps my vision clear and my purpose pure. In order to do what I want to do, and do it well, I need associations like that. So ... I am here.
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Rank: AML Member
Joined: 10/25/2007
Posts: 24
Points: 72
Location: Detroit, MI
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I came across AML during the last month or two of my MFA program in Boise. For three years, I'd craved creative community but never really found it. I was too Mormon for my non-LDS friends and too liberal for my Mormon friends. So I was idly googling one afternoon and typed in "Mormon Writer's Community" and I came across a link to the AML. I checked it out and cautiously signed up about a month later. I was so excited when I started getting e-mails and even more excited when word of the writer's conference came out. It thrilled me to think that there were other people out there who were somewhere in the same boat as me -- creative people, literary people who wanted a connection with others and didn't want their religion to be separate from their passions. I was starved for people who wanted to talk about poetry, fiction, movies, etc. AND who could approach those subjects from somewhat the same cultural context as me.
AML has been good for me over the years by introducing me to interesting, smart, eloquent people who think about things that are important to me in fascinating ways. I've made at least a couple of good friends, attended two really cool conferences, and, through the magic of Irreantum, felt validated in my hopes for a viable, living community of writers and readers who care about how Mormonism influences the world.
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Rank: AML Member
Joined: 10/27/2007
Posts: 21
Points: 75
Location: Santaquin, Utah
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I joined AML because of interest in the whole idea of Mormon community, culture, and literature as a thing that existed outside of either the institution of the Church or of the academy.
I was drawn in by the AML List about twelve years ago. A friend who had discovered the list mentioned it to me. It was a place where we non-academics could comment on what all those intelligent and powerful people over there were doing. It gave me news about a whole world of activities that I was interested in, but that I had no inherent access to.
From news gathered on AML List I began to attend events--lectures, readings, the annual conference. I commented on AML List and some of the academics seemed to find my comments useful and perhaps even valid. I felt drawn in and involved. I also saw the AML transition from a mostly closed, academic club to a more open populist organization and enjoyed a brief time when both academic and populists operating (successfully, I thought) side by side.
Since then the populist side has taken over and the academic focus (and participation) has waned--something I desperately miss. It's interesting to see those transitions over time and to witness the pendulum swings and how they're both initiated and executed.
Until a personal meltdown about six years ago, I had actually become quite engaged with AML both as List member and as adjunct board member (I ran the AML Awards for four years). Sadly, I became erratic and unreliable for several years (I'm better now) and have never been invited back into the inner circle though I would very much like to deepen my participation at that level.
But this is starting to veer into criticism and/or embarrassing self-revelation, so I'll stop now.
It's a great idea. Growing pains are always difficult, and we seem to be experiencing another shift of focus. I will be curious to see what the next version of AML looks like.
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